Dodson Starts Sports Agency

Hugh Dodson sees sports as a form of entertainment. So now, the forward-thinking Palisadian is bridging the gap between the two. To him they are, in fact, one and the same entity. Dodson opened Paragon Sports Agency in March, a company specializing in sports figures, and he plans to add talent to the equation later this year. “I had two prevailing feelings starting this company,” said Dodson, who has spent 20 years in the entertainment industry. “Excitement and fear.” For eight years, Dodson was the chief of financial operations at The Gersh Agency, where he worked with legendary agent and founder Phil Gersh for five years. “Phil was truly a shrewd businessman that ran the company with a collegial family feel,” said Dodson, who was the mastermind behind bringing sports figures into that agency. “I felt that if the agency didn’t diversify, we were going to lose market shares and business. I looked at a cooperate model and pushed to get in sports.” Arguing that “sports is a form of entertainment and that sports and entertainment are merging,” Dodson helped develop the prototype of an athlete that “crosses over,” meaning that today’s athlete is more than a sports figure’he or she signs book deals and appears in television series (like “Dancing With the Stars”), movie deals and endorsements. “The sports industry is seven times as big as the entertainment industry and there is more money available for athletes now than ever before,” Dodson said. “It makes sense for a talent agency to have a sports division.” In March of 2006, The Gersh Agency was the first talent agency certified to have in-house sports. CAA followed their lead three weeks later and the two agencies are still the only ones to have sports talent today’until Dodson’s agency, Paragon, opened. Leaving the Gersh agency wasn’t easy, but Dodson wanted something he could call his own. ‘It was great doing it for someone else but I wanted to do it for me,’ he said. ‘I wanted to create a culture in my own company based on teamwork. “I really feel through my years I learned from the people that mentored me and I took the best from them to put into Paragon,” said Dodson, who is focusing on building his agency. Steve Feldman, whom Dodson had brought into Gersh, joined him as executive vice president of the football division, bringing his clients to Paragon. At the NFL draft in April, Paragon was able to secure additional clients. They expect to add baseball and basketball in the next few months. “We want to create a more personal approach of management,” Dodson said. After the SAG contract is settled (it expires June 30), Dodson plans to add talent as a component of his company. “I love creative people,” he added. “I have an affinity for them. I enjoy the interaction.” Dodson grew up in Texas and worked for five years after high school before attending the University of Texas at El Paseo. He later transferred to Arizona State, where got a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance in 1987. After graduation he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a financial analyst in the syndicated television and theatrical marketing divisions for MGM and then Disney. Afterwards he was involved in four start-up business: Electric Ideas (entertainment advertising), D*REZ (digital visual effects), CCI (motion picture creative services), and Gersh Sports. “I’ve always had this entrepreneurial bent,” Dodson said. “What makes sense for the company and what kind of strategic planning is needed, are questions I look at.” He was considering working for an Internet niche business when his wife Robin, who was pregnant with their third child, suggested a different course. “Why don’t you get a real job,” she said. Seeing the wisdom of her words, Hugh went to work with The Gersh Agency. Many Palisadians recognize Dodson because he is on the Palisades Pony Baseball Association Board and heads its Red Sox organization. He coached his second son, 11-year-old Alec, in the Bronco Division. Alec and older brother Nathan attend Paul Revere Charter Middle School and his youngest Jared, 8, is at Canyon Elementary. Paragon, located in Los Angeles not far from UCLA, has been in business for two months. ‘It’s going very well,’ Dodson said. ‘It’s a fun business, it’s a tough business, but you have to do what you love.’